Ribble Ultra TT

The Ribble Ultra TT is their top of the line time trial machine and by all accounts like other bikes of that ilk, is fast. But there’s one other quality which makes the Ultra TT stand out…

Over 20 years ago when we first started taking riding bikes seriously, there was a bloke just beginning to make a big name for himself on the British time-trial scene – a certain Chris Boardman.

 

Back in those days when cyclists were far from the household names they are now and cycling very much a lesser known, often derided niche sport in the UK, Chris Boardman was like a shining light of inspiration for the up and coming cyclist. It was almost as if he was a precursor for what was about to come.

 

For a start he used scientific training methods that were revolutionary and gave us more structure to our training, which prior to that had been just riding long slow miles. He went from winning national time trial titles to Olympic and World track titles, breaking the Hour Record, then turning professional and winning stages of the Tour, which at the time was a major deal for British cyclists.

 

Long before he launched his own bike brand, he was obviously obsessed with his race equipment and had cutting edge equipment including, in the early part of the 90’s, a tasty white time-trial bike made by Ribble. If he were starting out now Boardman might still be mounted on a Ribble, though it wouldn’t be white nor made of steel – it would be stealthy black and called the Ribble Ultra TT.

 

There’s a good reason that we believe that a modern Boardman may have been Ribble mounted and here it is: whilst its very similar to other time-trial bikes we have featured recently – its black and its carbon, with narrow profiled tubes that cheat the wind – there’s one thing that makes it stand out from all of the other bikes – it only costs £639.95 for the frame and can be had for just £511.96 if you were to buy it online, which surely 99% of customers would. You do have to also purchase the Ribble Ultra TT Carbon Seatpillar and Ribble Ultra TT Carbon Forks but you can still have a fast, TT specific frameset for under £700.

 

That’s cost effective performance which a young Boardman would appreciate and is an affordable, performance leg-up to any aspiring time triallist, young or old…..(continued on page 2) >